XI Chapter 1

Sociology and Society

സമൂഹശാസ്ത്രവും സമൂഹവും

In this Chapter

1. The connection between a personal problem and a public issue.
2. How the individual in modern times belongs to more than one society. And how societies are unequal.
3. Sociology as a systematic study of society, distinct from philosophical and religious reflections, as well as our everyday common sense observation about society.
4. This distinct way of studying society can be better understood if we look back historically at the intellectual ideas and material contexts within which sociology was born and later grew.
5. Global aspect and the manner in which sociology emerged in India.
6. The scope of sociology and its relationship to other disciplines is discussed.

“Study hard and you will do well in

life.”

നന്നായി പഠിച്ചാല്‍ നിങ്ങള്‍ക്ക്

നല്ലൊരു ജീവിതമുണ്ടാകും

“ If you do this subject you will have a better chance

of getting a good job in the future”

ഈ വിഷയം പഠിച്ചാലേ

ഭാവിയില്‍ നല്ലൊരു ജോലി

ലഭിക്കുകയുള്ളൂ.

“ As a boy this does not

seem a correct choice of subject”

ഈ വിഷയം ആണ്‍കുട്ടികള്‍ക്ക്

പറഞ്ഞതല്ല

“As a girl, do you think your choice of subjects is a practical one?”

ഒരു പെണ്‍കുട്ടി എന്ന നിലയില്‍

നിങ്ങള്‍ തിരഞ്ഞെടുത്ത വിഷയം

പ്രായോഗികമാണെന്ന് നിങ്ങള്‍

ചിന്തിക്കുന്നുണ്ടോ

“Your family needs you to get a job soon so why choose a profession that will take a very long time”

വ്യക്തിപരം

തൊഴില്‍ വിപണി

ലിംഗഭേദം

കുടുംബം

സാമൂഹ്യ പശ്ചാതലം

what is a “good job?”

Money

social

recognition

individual satisfaction

Respect

‘relevant society’

പരിഗണിക്കപ്പെടുന്ന സമൂഹം

individual belongs to?

വ്യക്തിയുടെ സമൂഹം

neighbourhood?

അയല്‍പക്കം

community?

സമുദായം

caste or tribe?

ജാതി, ഗോത്രം

nation?

ദേശം

ഒരു വ്യക്തി വളര്‍ന്നുവരുന്ന സമൂഹം

Job status influenced by the relevant Society

set of societal factors.

Social background of the family.

broader political and economic measures

This gives us a preliminary sense of how sociology studies human society as an interconnected whole.

Which subject I Choose?

THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION: The Personal problem and the Public issue

C. Wright Mills

നശിച്ച കൊറോണ കാരണം വീട്ടിലിരുന്ന് ഭ്രാന്തായി

എനിക്ക് ജോലിയില്ല

ഞങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് ആര്‍ക്കും തന്നെ ജോലിയില്ല

PERSONAL PROBLEM

PUBLIC ISSUE

Can you identify what could be the causes for homelessness?

Different groups in your class can collect information on possible causes for example, employment possibilities, rural to urban migration, etc. Discuss these.

Discussion.

In Kerala

M N Laksham veedu Padhathi – 1970

EMS Samboorna Bhavana padhathi – 2009-10

C. Wright Mills

how individual and society are dialectically linked

Individual

Society

vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society

Objective observation

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION�The personal problems and the public issue

• Sociological imagination is the concept coined by the American Sociologist C. Wright Mills -1959
• The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society.
• Sociological imagination explains how individual and society are dialectically linked
• It is the "the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society."
• To have sociological imagination a person must be able to pull himself / herself away from the situation and think from an alternative point of view.
• Objective observation

Pluralities and inequalities among societies

Amartya Sen Says:-

• Some Indians are rich - Most are not
• Some are very well educated - Others are illiterate
• Some lead easy lives or luxury - Others toil hard for little reward
• Some are politically powerful - Others cannot influence anything
• Some have great opportunities - Others lack them for advancement in life
• Some are treated with respect while many others are ill-treated

Sociology and Common sense knowledge

​

Watch the video

Common sense

സാമാന്യ ബോധം

• It based on naturalistic and individualistic explanation.
• We can’t find any type of scientific evidence.

• A naturalistic explanation of behaviour rests on assumptions.

• Sociology breaks away from both common sense observation and ideas as well as from philosophical thought.
• Sociology emphasis on scientific procedures

The Intellectual Ideas that went in to making of Sociology�

Natural and biological evolution

• Society began to be categorized
• Stage of sociological development were identified
• Western society where regarded as the most advanced societies.

Charls Darwin

• All life related by a common ancestors

Organic Analogy

Social Darwinism

Herbert Spencer

Social Institution

Social Group

Social Status

Family

Religion

• Society compared to a living organism
• Social Structure and Function

Thomas Hobbs and John Locke

Enlightment in Europe

• Emphasized reason and Individualism

• Adoption of method of Natural science for the study of Sociology
• Natural phenomena like poverty began to seen social Problem

The Intellectual Ideas that went in to making of Sociology

Other Intellectual Ideas

• French Revolution
• Social Surveys
• Concepts of western thinkers

The French Revolution

Watch the Video

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEZqarUnVpo)

Material Issues

Industrialization:

​

Watch the video

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeD7mYk_Wq0)

• Capitalism became the driving force behind the growth of industrial manufacturing.
• Capitalism involved new attitudes and institutions.
• Markets-labour became commodities.

​

• The new economy was completely different from what it replaced. England was the centre of the Industrial Revolution.
• Change industrialisation brought about -
• Before industrialisation, agriculture and textiles were the chief occupations of the British people.
• Most people lived in villages.
• Like in our own Indian villages there were the peasants and landlords, the blacksmith ….
• Society was small.
• It was hierarchical
• Like all traditional societies it was also characterised by close interaction.
• With industrialisation each of these features changed.

Before industrialisation: ENGLAND

agriculture and textiles were the chief occupations of the British people.

Most people lived in villages.

• Like in our own Indian villages there were the peasants and landlords, the blacksmith ….

• Society was small.
• It was hierarchical

• Capitalism – Profit oriented- Degradation of labour
• Urban centres expanded and grew. -The industrial cities gave birth to a completely new kind of urban world.
• factories, slums ,bad sanitation and general squalor.
• It was also marked by new kinds of social interactions.
• New significance of clock-time as a basis of social organisation.
• The factory and its mechanical division of labour

​

• For some like Marx the factory was oppressive. Yet potentially liberating. Here workers learnt both collective functioning as well as concerted efforts for better conditions.

Material Issues that went in to making of Sociology

• Emergence of Capitalism
• Industrialization was based on capitalism
• New attitude and Institutions emerged with capitalism
• Degradation of labour
• Expansion of Urban cities
• Clock regulated life
• Change in the role of workers

​

Why should we study the beginning and growth of Sociology in Europe?

• Our past is closely connected with British Capitalism and Colonialism.�

Growth of Sociology in India

Colonialism, Industrialism and Capitalism

Growth of Sociology in India

Till recently Indians had to depend on western sociologist for understanding Social change in India.

Growth of Sociology in India

Western Sociologist had several misconceptions regarding Indian Society

The colonial officials saw 19^th C India as the past of European society

Conclude: Growth of Sociology in India

• Colonialism, Industrialism and Capitalism

​

• Till recently Indians had to depend on western sociologist for understanding Social change in India.

​

• Western Sociologist had several misconceptions regarding Indian Society

​

• The colonial officials saw 19^th C India as the past of European society

​

​

• They saw little difference between Sociology and Anthropology in the Indian context.

​

• Colonial officials and Western scholars on sociology spread incorrect information about Indian Society
• Village as Unchanging
• Infancy stage of Society

Sociology is closely related to other social sciences.

• Sociology and Economics

​

• Sociology and Political Science

​

• Sociology and History

​

• Sociology and Psychology

​

• Sociology and Anthropology

Sociology and Economics

• Economics:
• Study of production and distribution of goods and services

​

• the relations of price, demand and supply; money flows; output and input ratios

​

Economics

• Economic development influence man’s social life. there exist a close relation between economics and sociology.

Recent trend of Indian nurses coming back�from the conflict struck countries like Iraq, Libya, etc,.

• Economics approaches relations of price, demand and supply, money flows, output and input relations, etc.,

​

• Sociological approach looks at the issue in a broader context of norms, values, practices and interests.

​

• Economic perception suggests a technical solution to the issue, but sociology encourages a questioning and critical perspective.

Sociology and Political Science

• Political science is the study of the State and the Government.

​

In a general election ?

• Strategies used by political parties
• Social media
• Caste and religion
• Social factors

To be conclude..

• Sociology and Political science are interrelated.
• The Political parties, election system, political systems, forms of government, political ideologies etc. are shaped and modified by human beings.
• No state can exist without human beings.’

• The state regulates human behaviour through laws. The state also influences the social, religious, economic, and other activities of man.
• Family types, education, beliefs, traditions, practices and so on are shaped by the prevailing political system.
• Political life cannot be separated from social life.

​

• Family, religion, education etc are agencies of political socialization.
• Based on the interdependence of the two disciplines, a new branch called 'Political Sociology' emerged.
• Political Sociology focuses on the study of political behaviour

​

Sociology and History

അറബ് വസന്തം

• മധ്യപൂർവ ദേശത്തും ഉത്തര ആഫ്രിക്കയിലും നടന്നതും നടന്നു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നതുമായ പ്രതിഷേധ പ്രക്ഷോഭപരമ്പരകൾ അറബ് വസന്തം (Arab Spring) എന്നു അറിയപ്പെട്ടു.^[

​

• ചിലർ അതിനെ "അറബ് വസന്തവും ശിശിരവും" എന്നും വിശേഷിപ്പിക്കുന്നു.",  "അറബ് ഉയർത്തെഴുന്നേൽപ്പ്" (Arab Awakening) അല്ലെങ്കിൽ "അറബ് പ്രക്ഷോഭങ്ങൾ" (Arab Uprisings) എന്നും പലരും ഇതിനെ വിശേഷിപ്പിക്കുന്നു.

​

• 2010 ഡിസംബർ 18-ന് തുനീഷ്യയിലെ തെരുവിൽ മുഹമ്മദ് ബൂഅസ്സീസി എന്ന ബിരുദധാരിയായ തെരുവു കച്ചവടക്കാരൻ തീകൊളുത്തി ആത്മഹത്യ ചെയ്ത പ്രതിഷേധത്തോടെയാണ് പ്രക്ഷോഭങ്ങളുടെ ആദ്യ തീപ്പൊരി ഉയരുന്നത്.

​

• പോലീസിന്റെ അഴിമതിയിലും അപമര്യാദയോടെയുള്ള പെരുമാറ്റത്തിലും പ്രതിഷേധിച്ചായിരുന്നു ബൂഅസ്സീസി ആത്മഹത്യ ചെയ്തത്

​

• തുനീഷ്യയിലെ വിജയകരമായ പ്രക്ഷോഭത്തെ തുടർന്ന്, ബൂ അസ്സീസി എന്ന തീകൊളുത്തിയ മനുഷ്യന്റെ പ്രതിഷേധതരംഗങ്ങൾ അൾജീരിയ, ജോർഡാൻ, ഈജിപ്റ്റ്,യമൻ എന്നീ രാജ്യങ്ങളേയും പിടിച്ചുലച്ചു.

• അതു പിന്നീട് മറ്റു രാജ്യങ്ങളിലേക്കും വ്യാപിച്ചു. വലുതും ഏറ്റവും സംഘടിതവുമായ പ്രക്ഷോഭ പ്രകടനങ്ങൾ നടന്നത് വെള്ളിയാഴ്ചയിലെ ജുമുഅ പ്രാർഥനക്ക് ശേഷമായിരുന്നു. ഡെ ഓഫ് റെയ്ജ് (Day of rage) എന്ന പേരിലാണ് അതുവിളിക്കപ്പെട്ടത്.  

​

• ടുണീഷ്യയുടെ ദേശീയപുഷ്പമായ മുല്ലപ്പൂവ് എന്നതിനോട് ചേർത്ത് ഈ സമരങ്ങളെ മുല്ലപ്പൂവിപ്ലവം എന്നും അറിയപ്പെടുന്നു.

​

• 2012 ജനുവരി ഒന്നു വരെ മൂന്ന് രാജ്യങ്ങളിലെ സർക്കാറുകൾ ഈ പ്രക്ഷോഭഫലമായി കടപുഴകി വീണു.

​

• തുനീഷ്യയിലെ വിപ്ലവത്തെ തുടർന്ന് അവിടുത്തെ പ്രസിഡന്റ് സൈനുൽ ആബിദീൻ ബിൻ അലി 2011 ജനുവരി 14 ന് സൗദി അറേബ്യയിൽ അഭയം തേടി.

​

• 2011 ഫെബ്രുവരി 11-ന് , 18 ദിവസത്തെ ശക്തമായ പ്രക്ഷോഭത്തെ തുടർന്ന് ഈജിപ്ഷ്യൻ പ്രസിഡന്റ് ഹുസ്നി മുബാറക് തന്റെ മുപ്പതു വർഷത്തെ ഭരണം അവസാനിപ്പിച്ചു രാജി നൽകി^[20].

​

• 2011 ഓഗസ്റ്റ് 23 ന് ലിബിയയുടെ പ്രസിഡന്റായിരുന്ന് മുഅമ്മർ ഗദ്ദാഫി ഭരണത്തിൽ നിന്ന് പുറത്താക്കപ്പെടുകയും നാഷണൽ ട്രാൻസിഷിനൽ കൗൺസിൽ ബാബുൽ അസ്സീസിയയുടെ നിയന്ത്രണം കയ്യേൽക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു.

​

• 2011 ഒക്ടോബർ 20 ന് സിത്രിലെ തന്റെ സ്വന്തം പട്ടണത്തിൽ ഗദ്ദാഫി കൊലചെയ്യപ്പെട്ടു.

​

Historical and Sociological perspective on this Issue..!

To be conclude….

• Sociology and History study society from two different angles.
• History studies past society.
• Sociology is concerned with the present society and to some extent with the future.
• The present society cannot be analysed without reference to the past society.
• Social history emerged as the result of the mutual relationship between the two disciplines “Social history” is the historical analysis of social patterns, gender relations, mores, customs and important institutions.

Sociology and Psychology

What is Psychology?

• Psychology is the scientific study of human behaviour.
• Psychology investigates an enormous range of phenomena:
• learning and memory, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, thinking and language, personality and social behaviour, intelligence, child development, mental illness, and much more.
• Psychology studies the behaviour of an individual in a given context.

To be conclude…

• Psychology studies individual behaviour
• The subject matter of psychology is individual's intelligence, leaning, motivations, hopes, fears, etc.,
• Sociology studies behaviour as it is being shaped by society
• Social Psychology studies how individual behaves in groups.

Sociology and Anthropology

• Anthropology is the study of Human race, especially of its origin, development, customs and beliefs.
• Physical anthropology:- Biological origin of human race.
• Social and cultural anthropology :-

• Social anthropologist studies simple societies but sociologist studies complex societies

​

Prepared by : Yaseer PK, Hsst. WOVHSS, Muttil

• Anthropologist used ethnographic research method. While sociologist used survey and questionnaires.

Prepared by : Yaseer PK, Hsst. WOVHSS, Muttil

To be conclude….

• Sociology is the study of modern complex societies whereas Social Anthropology is the study of simple societies.
• Social Anthropology studies simple societies in all their aspects while Sociology being the study of complex societies focuses on certain aspects of the society·
• Social anthropologists rely on participant observation methods whereas the method of study adopted by sociologists is survey and quantitative methods.

Prepared by : Yaseer PK, Hsst. WOVHSS, Muttil

​

​

PREPARED BY:

YASEER PK,

HSST-WOVHSS, Muttil

just4yaseer@gmail.com

​

Prepared by : Yaseer PK, Hsst. WOVHSS, Muttil